Batman: Arkham Asylum - Hands On Preview

Excuse the nostalgia, but back in the early nineties games based on comic books actually rocked. Most were side-scrolling beat-em-ups like the X-Men arcade game, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, and as simple as they were, they captured what comics were all about: being badass and leaving a body count equivalent to the population of a small country in your wake.

Somewhere along the generations of consoles, comic book games were consigned to the rubbish heap along with games based on films. The dawn of the comic book film meant that the majority of games were film licensed titles that suffered from the associated short development period which typically lead to buggy, shallow games.

Fortunately, with Batman: Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady - free from any film licence - have been able to create their very own vision of the caped crusader. And our first look earlier this year was promising. To be accurate, the game actually looked fairly grim, as Rocksteady managed to recapture the mood of Batman from DC comics. But without playing it, in crept the fear that the game would fall victim to one of the numerous pitfalls typical of these comic book games.

For our hands-on we were shown two levels from the challenge maps mode of the game. Challenge maps, which are unlocked as you progress through the story mode, serve as a way to revisit past levels with added objectives. With the inclusion of online leader boards, topping your last score can prove to be very addictive - something we discovered very quickly.

The first level we played was a combat challenge. This is a series of brawls where each round sends increasingly large numbers of grunts your way. The objective is to maim your attackers with as much finesse as possible. This means stringing together flawless combos with a degree of flair to rack-up points.

The level is set in a small room lined with empty prison cells. The Joker, aptly voiced by Mark Hamil, taunts you over the Tannoy before letting you loose on his henchmen. The first thing we noticed was actually Batman's posture. It's not that were closet chiropractors but game characters in general  have steadily become more hunched of late in order to make them feel more human to players. Instead, Batman has towering presence, as he should, and together with the significant amount of the screen he takes up (without actually obscuring your view) he looks more monolith than man.

Rocksteady has clearly decided that Batman's presence was integral to his character as he has never had the superpowers to account for his penchant for dressing up. To that extent, Batman doesn't walk, he stalks. The animation of his movement exudes menace, making us ready to take on Joker's goons.

All standard attacks are performed with just the X button (on Xbox 360) rather than the more traditional button variations seen in other games like God of War or Devil May Cry. Intentional or not, this is reminiscent of the old side scrolling beat-em-ups of the nineties, where one button would control a number of attacks when pressed with different directions. The combat in Batman functions in pretty much the same way. Combos are strung together by moving from one opponent to another by directing batman to his next victim with a tap of the left analogue stick and the X button. Timing is essential to ensure that you juggle enemies sufficiently to create fluid link-ups between each foe.

Also vital for building up huge combos is mastery of the counter-attack Y button. Before attacking you, in this demo at least, small blue lightning streaks appear over the head of the thug. With quick reactions, pressing Y will turns this attack against them allowing you to continue your massacre unperturbed.

As your combo multiplier stacks up, takedowns and throws become available you. When you surpass a combo of five hits, tapping Y and B together unleashes a takedown where batman grapples with the grunt and floors him with a succession of bone-breaking blows - definitely the money shot of the combat. Hitting A and X instead will get batman to lift one of the enemies above his  head before throwing him in a direction of your choosing (useful for gaining some distance from advancing gangs).

For the more sadistically inclined, Batman can throw people into different parts of the environment such as electric fences. There is an additional stun attack using the B button but it seemed redundant as most attacks floored the enemies, but it could become useful in later stages. Each round is also capped with a Zack Snyder style close up of the final blow. Unfortunately, under this close scrutiny, the blows don't connect as they should and it's a disappointing and potentially annoying effect.

The whole system is very intuitive, and is very responsive. At this point it's hard to tell how this combat system will feel across the length of a full game. There is the danger that the level of simplicity could become repetitive but, for now, the emphasis on reaction times and planning is a gratifying combination.

The Joker's henchmen in this mode are armed with nothing more serious than a lead pipe but for the second "Predator" challenge, the goons have got their hands on some guns. While Batman was pretty much invincible in hand-to-hand combat - novices can manage just by mashing the X button - guns prove to be his undoing. Rushing into a fist fight in this scenario will get you dead, fast, so batman must rely on stealth to eliminate patrolling guards one by one.

This challenge is set in one of the medical treatment rooms of Arkham Asylum where Killer Croc was being held - the piles of skulls by a bed with broken shackles are a bit of a giveaway. Although these maps are just a snippet of the overall game, the atmosphere of both levels isn't as dark as we were expecting. With its prison setting, obvious comparisons can be drawn with Manhunt, but with the different nature of the two games it's a bit unfair.

In the absence of any shadows big enough to hide in, Batman can perch on gargoyles dotted around at the top of the room to hide from the patrols. And in true Batman fashion, you can hang upside-down from these and wait for a patrol to pass under you before pressing the Y button to snatch them up to the rafters with your grappling gun. There's then the choice of leaving them dangling or cutting them down at your own leisure. The more adventurous player can cut them down at the opportune moment to crush a guard below and unlock a "Mind Your Head" achievement. If, however, you forget about the guard and leave him for too long, he'll die anyway.

Hanging from the ceiling does feel very Batman, but it's comes off as slightly artificial as it often puts you in plain sight. Guards can walk right up to you without batting an eyelid. Also, if you're spotted it's just a case of using your grappling gun to launch yourself back to the ceiling, swinging about a bit, and then suddenly you've vanished as far as the henchmen below are concerned.

When everything has died down, you can then get back to work clearing the level in a number of different ways. A quick tap of the LB button switches on "detective" mode which highlights where each enemy currently is. It also reveals structural weaknesses that you can exploit to punish the passing guards. For example, a bit of explosive gel on a crumbling wall makes for an excellent trap. Our personal favourite was to throw the sonic Batarang, which lures guards to it, near a ledge and then proceed to tug them off the edge with the grappling gun, one by one.

From the vantage points of the gargoyles you can also use your Batarang to stun guards before gliding down silently, cape fully opened, to finish them on the ground. Guards quickly rush to dead bodies so you have to get back up to the rafters just as quickly as you descended. The more cunning player can hide around a corner again before walking up behind the curious guard to perform a quick instant kill.

The stealth aspect of the game is spot-on at recreating the Batman experience. Rocksteady has also made it very accessible, but in doing so, risks disappointing fans of the stealth genre. The general combat is satisfying and switching from stealth to punch-ups is smooth but the tension of being caught usually associated with the genre is missing. While the ease of escape and dependence on the ceiling as a hiding place means it all feels a little artificial, Batman: Arkham Asylum still looks like it will do a great job of putting gamers in Batman's boots.